It’s not debatable, Matt Ryan is better than Matthew Stafford

The 2021 NFL season is a few months away and many fans await to see new coaches around players like Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford. Both Ryan and Stafford are going to have competent offensive-minded head coaches for the first time in both of their careers.

Arthur Smith, an offensive-minded coach, was hired to be the new Atlanta Falcons head coach and will work with Matt Ryan for the last years of his career. Matthew Stafford was traded in the offseason from the Detroit Lions to the Los Angeles Rams and will work with Sean McVay who is also an offensive-minded coach.

There are plenty of great sports debates out there but this one is a no-brainer: Matt Ryan is 100 percent a better quarterback than Matthew Stafford.

Ryan was the third overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft while Stafford was the first overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Matt Ryan’s career stats are currently 55,767 passing yards, 347 passing touchdowns, 158 interceptions, 94.5 quarterback rating, and 205 games played.

Stafford’s career stats are currently 45,109 yards, 282 passing touchdowns, 144 interceptions, 89.9 quarterback rating, and 165 games played.

Obviously, Matt Ryan will have more career numbers being in the NFL an extra season, but he still has 10,000 more passing yards, 65 more passing touchdowns, a greater quarterback rating, only 14 more interceptions, and has played in 40 more games.

To put that in perspective, once Ryan retires, Stafford would have to throw for 250 yards a game for 40 more games just to catch Matty Ice.

Despite only playing an extra season Matt Ryan’s numbers are still far superior compared to Matthew Stafford.

Context is always key whenever an argument is made with statistics. Even when fans take everything in context Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford have both been in terrible situations. The Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions have been historically bad franchises.

Not only have they been a part of bad franchises they have also had two Hall of Fame wide receivers. Matthew Stafford had Calvin Johnson to throw to and Matt Ryan has had a future Hall of Fame receiver Julio Jones to throw to.

Another category to judge these two quarterbacks is career accolades. Matthew Stafford has only won two awards in his twelve-year career: one pro bowl appearance in 2014 and an NFL comeback player of the year in 2011.

Matt Ryan has won ten awards in his thirteen-year career:

• NFL MVP in 2016
• NFL Offensive Player of the year in 2016
• NFL Offensive Rookie of the year in 2008
• First-team All-Pro in 2016
• Four-time Pro Bowler in 2010, 2012, 2014, & 2016, (was invited in 2018 but declined so should be five times)
• NFL Passer Rating leader in 2016
• NFL completion percentage leader in 2012

Quarterback wins should not be used to judge quarterbacks, however, if fans really want to use that as a measuring tool Matthew Stafford has not won a playoff game in his career and Matt Ryan has won four playoff games including the NFC Championship in 2016.

Perception is everything when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks.

Matt Ryan has better career stats, more career accolades, and has been in a similar situation compared to Matthew Stafford. Matt Ryan is better than Matthew Stafford.